Interview mit José Serrano von Allscaletrains.com

Are you model railway enthusiasts and do you know yourself very well with model railway, since when and how did you came to model railway?
I guess this happen always the same way, or you have a father / grandfather that where trains collectors or you have your first model train when you was a kid.
In my case my Father gave me a Lima train set around 1979 (I was 5 years old) and I played with it until it became completely ruined on 1985. Since then I dream that one day when I have my own job I will buy again a train set to play.
On December 1999, I decide it was the time to buy again a train, I checked some stores and found a cheap train wagon (9 €) in a very small scale (N) from Peco and at that moment I decide I wish to collect trains.
5 or 6 months later and 3 or 4 more buys from Peco I found the German companies Fleischmann and Trix, and since then I keept my 4 or 5 Peco N scale wagons just to remember how did I start it, and now I have more than 800 Minitrix and Fleischmann N scale Trains.
3 years after I start my trains collection, I decided to invest some money and time buying trains in Germany (Used ones) and sell them in Portugal, and since then I never stop until Now.
Last year I realized that I have more than 3000 trains at home (Most of Them H0 scale), and I decide to start selling them in my store (All Scales Trains) since I only collect for real N scale.

Wich is your site and what do people find in it?
To find the store you just need to type www.AllScalesTrains.com, and you can find there most of the time H0 trains (AC and DC) and N scale.
From Marklin trains from the 50’s to the digital ones we are used to buy now, until Vintage Trix express, N scale from Fleischmann or Roco, Wollmer houses, Faller bridges, etc.
(...)

How much time you spend a day / week / month on your website or FB page?
I spend 3 Hours a day on FB and web store pages, plus the time necessary to take pictures, compose product page, etc.

How much did Facebook helped you to get potential readers / customers to your website?
FB is exactly for that, since I create it and start publishing the items I have for sale, lots of potential clients contacted me and in fact I have make some business with people in India, otherwise it would be impossible.

Do you live from your website / Facebook page or do you have to do many other jobs?
I live from my work as IT Project Director

What do you think about the situation of model railroad today? A lot has changed in recent years, and if yes / no why?
As normal evolution things are changing since I start. In the past here in Portugal only rich persons had a Marklin to play (a realy basic set) the poor guys like me had Lima a very cheap train.
Now we can find all the brands and all kind of items easily.
The most significantly change I notice now is that since 2 years ago the 2nd hand market had low the prices a lot, since people are experiencing great economic difficulties the demand is lower and the prices too, nevertheless it keeps to be a good and profitable investment. You know life is cyclic, what is low now will be high again tomorrow.

Are there any models or model railway company that you like the most and why?
Yes, as a train collector I give much care about the details, and on H0 Marklin / Trix, Fleischmann, and Roco are my selection of brands, in N scale I take Fleischmann, Minitrix, Roco and some limited edition Arnold / railex trains. If you care about quality you can find it on Fulgurex and HAG too.

Do you know the company RailAd and its models? If so, do you like it or not, and why?
I know 2 of theirs models but I confess I don´t take much time on Epoch IV and V trains, I´m fan of epoch I to III Steam only.